'Gaps' remain in Indo-US N-talks

New Delhi: After three days of Indo-US nuclear talks, Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon said "gaps" remain between India and the US on key issues.

Despite moving "much closer" to an agreement to operationalise the civil nuclear deal, persisting "gaps" prevented a breakthrough after the latest round of discussions.

India said "some distance" was still to be travelled before the two sides could finalise the 123 agreement that would reflect the July 15, 2005 Joint Statement, March 2, 2006 Separation Plan and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's statements to Parliament.

The talks, that included technical-level discussions, could not result in any breakthrough particularly because of differences on whether India should get the right to reprocess spent nuclear fuel.

The talks have remain deadlocked over four contentious areas regarding penalties for testing a nuclear device, the right of return in case India conducts nuclear tests, uninterrupted fuel supplies and the right to reprocess spent fuel.

The two sides agreed to hold further talks, dates for which will be decided later, Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon told reporters after his "very intense and productive" discussions with US Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns.

Emphasising that India and the US were keen on concluding the agreement quickly, he said after the fresh round of talks, the two sides were "much closer" to reaching the understanding on the agreement as "most issues" had been resolved.

The two sides have held marathon technical-level talks focussing on nitty gritty that would govern the agreement, like fuel supplies, sources said. "The talks were positive," a source said, adding that there was forward movement in the negotiations.

But there are still "some issues" and "gaps", Menon said, adding there was "some distance" to travel.

Describing the talks as "productive" and "useful", the US said "some progress" had been made on the agreement but "more work" was required.

There is a likelihood that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will be in Delhi sometime in July or August when some of the outstanding issues will be taken up.

(With inputs from PTI)